I made this tarp using some of my own ideas and a combination of features from other tarp designs that appealed to me. I added 12 inches to Jay Ham's original ridgeline length of 78". I also used a catenary curve in the ridgeline. I used the spreadsheet to calculate the curve that is available on Lance's Web Page at http://www.wvi.com/~ulmyog thanks to Lance Marshall. The deviation was -2 9/16" at midpoint. I used 1.1 oz silnylon seconds and Gutermann thread for this project. This silnylon tarp in its stuff sack weighs in at 10.8 oz without lines attached. My hammock weighed in at 2 1/2 pounds.

All of the tieouts have 1/8" shockcord and Kelty Triptease Lightline attached to them. The shockcord and Triptease are joined together using two overhand knots threaded through each other and pulled tight against each other forming what is called a "fishermen's knot".

The shockcord is attached to the tieouts using a "lark's head" knot and the Triptease is knotted to form a loop at the end using a doubled figure eight knot. The resulting loop is formed into a "lark's head" and attached to 6 1/2" titanium stakes.

After adjusting and final setting my stakes the tension provided by the shockcord under tension should keep my tarp pitched tightly through the night.

I made my front and rear tieouts using grosgrain ribbon and brass grommets.

The tips of my trekking poles are located in grommets installed in doubled over and sewn 3/4" grosgrain ribbon. These ribbons are attached via boxstitching to the tarps ridgeline reinforcements. I got the idea to adapt this method and modify it for use on my personal MYOG SUL tarp after viewing Glen Van Peski's 2009 SETUP VIDEO of the SpinnTwinn™ tarp. Thanks Glen. Now there will be no more guess work or fumbling with half hitches in the front and rear guy lines.

On the front and rear overhangs I used shockcord threaded through the tieouts and joined at the ends using the "fishermen's knot".

I didn't pull the two overhand knots tightly against each other this time because I wanted some adjustability in the loop of shockcord.

Inside on the underside of the ridgeline I sewed in two 1/2" grosgrain ribbon loops as attachment points for the support of a future bug net MYOG project of mine.

The accessory loops are the two dark spots along the ridgeline. The front loop is stitched into the front tieout reinforcement and the rear is stitched into the felled seam of the ridgeline about halfway to the rear.

This is not the end! :-) I still need to seam seal the tarp and melt the ends of the shockcord and Triptease to avoid unraveling of my guylines.

Thank you very much to George Carr, Jamie Shortt, James Lantz and Matt Lutz for your kind words, advice and input on my thread "Pitching My Tarp Experiment :-)". Setting up this new tarp was very easy after applying your advice and suggestions.

Making my own personal hiking gear is simply part of my hobby which is ultimately hiking. If I were doing it for a living I'd probably lose my shirt. :-) It is very satisfying and rewarding. Thanks again for everyone's help. :-)

John, very nice! Create way of tensioning the ridgeline - I like it. I especially like that you were able to free up your interior space by moving the front pole out. You'll have to let us know how your tensioning system works. Very cool!

I scoured the internet for images and articles on tying and tensioning guylines. My goal was to be able to set my stakes and forget about my guylines until morning. It also naturally had to simple and light.

Most of what I was able to find on the web was bulky and or complicated in their design. I saw a few designs that allowed you to re-tension the guylines from under the tarp that were not bulky or complicated. But I didn't want to have to re-tension the guylines at all.

I will be back with a field test report on how the tensioning system works as soon as my schedule permits. Until then for all of you dinosaurs out there that remember the term "shareware" feel free to try out and use the design. I only ask that anyone that does try it get back to us with a field test report of their own on this thread.

My front and rear tieouts are probably not the lightest around but they simplified the setting up of the tarp. I can live with the additional "gram load" :-) if it makes life simpler.

As you said they also allowed me to free up the space underneath the tarp by locating the pole outside. With the extra 12" of ridgeline that I added I should be able to stretch out in style and still have ample space for my gear.

I'm a country music sort of guy but I do like K.I.S.S.Keeping It Sublimely Simple.

Thanks for the link. I thought I had looked almost everywhere. Apparently I had looked "almost" everywhere and not "there". :-)

So it seems that mine is just a variation of a theme then. The methods are quite similar though the knotting styles differ where the guyline and shockcord join. The parallel guyline and shockcord arragement is interesting. It achieves the same goal without "betting the house" on the non-paralleled shockcord not breaking.

I had seen a tent guyline tip similar to the second style of self tensioning guyline on McNett's website.

http://www.mcnett-outdoor.com/Repair-Guide/Tents/Tent-Tips/235.aspx

It is interesting that this approach uses the "fisherman's knot". It's the same knot but a different manner of usage. I used it to join the shockcord and guyline and the author of the post uses it to join the ends of the shockcord loop that he ties into an unbroken guyline.

I don't care for the look of the guyline paralleling the shockcord. But in the back of my mind a little voice is whispering, form follows function! I'd hate to go to sleep under a tarp and wake up in a bivy. :-)

I am considering the parallel guyline/shockcord approach as an "upgrade" to my guylines.

You might consider using a curtain bug net attached along the hems. That can save a lot of weight and fiddling. I make them 18-20 inches on the sides and 6" longer than the center front and back heights. If you make the end pieces sorta diamond shaped, you can just lift the net to get in and out.

>>Don't know if you ever saw this thread about self-tensioning guylines, FWIW.<<

Thanks again. Your FWIW brought about a modification and improvement to the guylines on my SUL tarp.

I added what I call the "safety line" going to the tieout on the tarp from the "fishermans knot" and ultimately to the stake. I replaced the length of Kelty Triptease at each tieout point so that it would be one single piece as opposed to two pieces at each point. This was my effort at K.eeping I.t S.ublimely S.imple!

I used a bowline to secure the Triptease to the tieout. I followed that with the fishermans knot to join the Triptease to the shockcord as before but left some length for the safety loop.

The the knot that I used on the stake loop is what I call a modified slip knot.

Above are the front and rear views of this modified slip knot.

It is formed by first making a loose overhand knot. Follow this with threading the free end of the line back through the loosely formed overhand knot. Keeping everything you've done to this point "in place" form another overhand knot around the line coming into the first overhand knot using the same free end. Put your finger into the loop that you formed earlier and pull everything tight while holding the free end. Allow the last overhand knot to slide down to the first overhand knot and you're done. The result will be what looks like another fishermans knot that forms a locked loop for attachment to the stake.

I originally looked at a similar knot called a lariat loop for an example of what I wanted to acomplish. If any of you boy scouts or sailors out there know the real name for this knot if there is one please post it. As far as I know it is simply a combination of two knots forming a locked loop.

>>Why did you want to use that knot in your application rather than a bowline?<<

I used a bowline at the tieout because it was simpler for me working with only so much line and one free end.

I used the other knot or combination of knots on the other end simply because I liked the looks of it better and it performed the same function of a bowline in this application. I would have probably used this knot at the tieout also but the grosgrain and shockcord make tightening the loop a little challenging.

I had originally used a doubled over figure 8 knot for the stake loops but I found it too bulky.

I like lighter and leaner gear. By that I mean if I can't lighten it I try to at least make it less bulky.